>By the way Bart I would have to disagree with you regarding the
>Netherlands not having rural lands ( I am sure you must be kidding).
>I have visited on a number of occasions and have been struck by the
>rural environment. As a biologist I have visited several areas of
>ecosystem restoration along the coast of the North Sea as well as
>along the Iljsmeer (sp?) with Dutch and other colleagues where there
>is some of the best marsh land restoration I have ever seen going on.
>Without doubt the Netherlands are a busy , very full of people
>country but 'wild' lands do exist and in a small way are growing once
>again. Something the Dutch should justly be proud of.
I think Bart was referring to the notion that in the Netherlands even
"nature" is man-made. In fact, most of the landscapes that the Dutch
cherish and love, such as heaths and evergreen forests, are actually
cultural artefacts. Heaths were created by grazing sheep and require
a lot of effort in maintaining without herds. We now have a few
"official" shepherds that are employed by the government to fulfill
both a touristic and a landscape conserving function.
North American friends who visited the Netherlands for the first
time, have often told me they were very surprized by the variety of
landscapes on such a small territory.
Ton
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